Let me be your shadow
by Cojuribuji
Summary: Since the beggining of the outbreak, 19 year old Melissa had been with a group of survivors that kept her safe. she is lulled into false security. After loosing them, she finds a wake up call to the brutality of her new world in the form of Daryl Dixon and his group. She leeches onto him for safety to his disgust, but gradually she grows and gains dependency...
1. Chapter 1

A/N- this story is a lot about character development so don't hate how I've written Melissa and give up on this story. Any thing you would yell at her will be yelled at her in time and she'll grow from it- just a warning xD

Chapter 1

Night one, solitude of ghosts

Chaos. Pure unadulterated chaos surrounded a small camp in a clearing just inside a woodland that a group of ten survivors occupied. Walkers growled and lunged left right and centre, grabbing the humans all around them and tearing into them with their nails and rotting teeth. A girl with long black hair and hazel eyes had just come back into camp after a foraging trip in the near woods just outside of camp and she froze up at the scene before her. Her friends and fellow survivors were being ripped into and apart by the diseased carnivorous dead and she was frozen stiff in fear, the only part of her body working was her eyes as they watched widely as her group slowly died off from bites and being dug into by the walkers. A thousand thoughts of what to do flashed in her head as she stood helplessly to one side.  
The gun she had in her waist band was useless. She didn't know how to fire it or even turn off the safety! She wasn't strong enough to use any of the manual weapons such as machetes or axes and she didn't know if she could have the stomach to kill one of Them. As she was distracted watching her camp scream and cry out, two walkers limped up behind her. They snarled happily and reached out to her with grey decaying hands.  
"Melissa watch out!" A man with scruffy blonde hair grabbed her wrist and yanked her behind him, swinging his knife into one of the walkers skulls and swiftly doing the Same to the other, watching them fall quickly.  
"E-Eric?" She stuttered as he turned to her. He pulled her gun from her waistband and aimed it across camp, fireing a shot at a walker who was chewwing on a short brown haired girls arm, before grabbing Melissa's shoulder and scanning her arms for marks.  
"You bit?!" He yelled as he quickly searched. She shook her head.  
"E-Eric! Watch out!" She put her hand over her mouth and gasped. A walker had jumped up from nowhere behind Eric and grabbed his shoulder. He swung around to impale its skull... But it was too late. It took a chunk out of its shoulder and he collapsed as blood squirted from the wound. In a final boost of strength he took out the walker as it lunged for another bite with a bullet and rolled the lax corpse away from him as he lie on the ground, clutching his shoulder. The gun, now bullet-less, dropped by his side.  
"Eric! No!" Melissa fell to her knees, her hands hovering shakily over him. She didn't know where to touch him or if she was going to hurt him more by touching him. But she just had to and settled for cupping his face. The faint screams of her camp mates was droned out by her heavy pulse In her ears. She completely ignored the walkers as she rubbed her thumb soothingly against his cheek as he moaned in pain.  
"Get out of here!" He pulled her hand off his face and pushed his knife handle into her palm. She roughly shook her head and her eyes teared up.  
"N-no, I-I can't! I can't- you need it! You need to protect me! You need to keep it-" he grabbed her wrist roughly to get her to shut up and scowled through at her through a pain gritted grimace. More walkers were attracted away from the dead bodies of her friends to her hectic shouts.  
"Listen to me! Don't be a stupid bitch, get your arse out of here!" He coughed and a splatter of blood flew from his pale lips onto her cheek and she began to hyperventilate.  
"No! Don't- don't leave me!" She flinched as he clenched his hand around her wrist.  
"Now, Melissa! Or you're gonna die!" His grip on her wrist was painfully tight now and she winced with a cry of pain.  
"O-okay!" She whimpered and he let her go. The walkers were only a foot away from her when she stood up and backed away. She took one last long look at Eric as he began to Pale with blood loss.  
"Go!" Eric yelled as some of the walkers after Mellisa dropped to take a few bites out of him. His screams were the last thing she heard before running as fast as she could away from the camp, holding the knife tight in her small hands.

Her hyperventilating wasn't getting any better and a huge stitch spread up her side. She whimpered as she stopped and bent double, panting. Looking around quickly, the screams of her camp were far behind her and there were no signs of walkers around. She leant and sat against a tree and tried to take deep breaths. Slowly her panting melted into soft sobs as she drew her knees up and rested her forehead on them.  
"Eric... Liz... Jimmy... Kim-" she could remember each of their faces as the walkers tore their flesh from their bones. Some of her friends were long dead before she had returned to camp and the grisly sight of their remains haunted her. Her group didn't have many guns or real weapons, only small things like knives. Liz had had a bow but didn't know how to use it and messed the string up so it became thoroughly useless. It had been a month that her and that group had been on the run for from those things. They had stopped to make camp outside a small town that seemed deserted, even from walkers... But they had stayed too long. A week there and walkers must have caught their scent. Melissa found it creepy that they had almost superhuman senses now that they were the resurrected dead. They could hear and smell far better than the humans they once were...  
But none of that mattered right now to Melissa. Her only source of food and protection was gone and she wasn't likely to last more than a few days without them. The men in her camp had been their protectors and supply scavengers. The women did berry or mushroom foraging in the woods she was now lost in occasionally. She'd been brave enough to go by herself today and the thought that maybe if she haven't she might not be alive now played on her mind. She couldn't survive on her own! Why couldn't she have died with her friends?! Why couldn't Eric be the one still alive... Eric- even his name felt like a burn on her skin. He had found her in her broken down car as she tried to reach Atlanta near the start and since then, she'd never left his side. Around him she was safe... And now he was gone. The one day she's brave enough to leave him and the camp by herself and everyone dies. Would Eric have died if she hadn't come back then? It was her fault he died right? Those questions flooded her head as her tears streamed onto her knees an soaked through her jeans.  
"What am I going to do?" She whispered to herself as her sobbing faded. She turned the knife in her hand slowly and furrowed her brows. She could end it all. Join her group in death. By her own free will and not torn apart by cannibalistic corpses. If she wasn't such a coward she'd do it. Press that knife against her throat or over her heart and with a jolt of her hand be done with it. She slowly put the tip of the knife on her chest and held the handle with two shaking hands but she just couldn't do it.  
"It's so simple... So easy. A way out." She said to her reflection in the half stained blade of the knife.  
"But you just can't do it, can you? You just can't do it!" She screamed and stared wide eyed at her crazed expression starring straight back. A quiet growl of a walker nearby got her back to her feet. She held the knife tightly in front of her and backed up. A twig snapped behind her and she spun around quickly. The trees rustled in a soft breeze and then silence. She held her breath as she awaited another sound. But there was nothing. Night was falling fast and in the dark she was twice as vulnerable as she was now. She looked up into the tree branches over her head and thought about a place to sleep that was at least walker safe. She frowned and looked around for a thick enough tree to attempt to climb, but found no such luck and began to hyperventilate again.  
"Calm down and keep walking till you find a tree." Erics calm voice echoed in her head. Even in death, his voice of reason had edged its way into her head and gut feelings. If she was to last one more night in the apocalypse alone, she'd let her Eric-reasoned gut guide her.  
It took her a while to convince her legs to cooperate, but shakily, she managed to keep heading further away from her overrun camp.  
As she walked she thought about how many times she should have been dead by now if not for others being there to save her. The biggest fault in her personality was her dependence on others. Since she was a child her parents taught her many things were dangerous and could either break her neck if she tried or kill her. She'd grown up in fear and unconfident and this world should have chewed her up and spat her out as a walker by now- literally. She'd killed Eric through her incompetence and dependency. Her father had died at the start of the apocalypse getting her things into her car that she 'needed' to take to Atlanta and he in turn killed her mother as a walker when she couldn't put him down after the fever killed him. He resurrected and took a chunk out of her mother who was packing food for the trip in the kitchen.  
Melissa didn't have the courage to put either of them to rest as she drove away. They were still wandering around in her house right now, hungry for her flesh and any other living humans. She shuddered at the thought and pulled her jacket closer around her body as the suns light quickly disappeared into a paint pink glow just visible above the trees.  
Panic was setting in now even further as she saw no trees thick enough to hide up. With a scared whine, she sat down on a fallen log nearby and shivered with the approaching cold of night. She was surprised and thankful that she hadn't seen a single walker since the camp and wondered if she was lucky enough to be able to avoid them till morning.  
She used her pant leg to wipe the zombie gunk off Erics knife with a cringe and sighed. In Erics hand, this was a killer weapon. In her hands this blade was useless, although she still poised it ready by her chest when she heard a twig snapping or animal calls in the distance.  
Exhaustion kicked in soon after night had completely fallen and she hadn't moved from the log.  
Deciding she was dead anyway, she lay in front of the log and pulled a makeshift blanket of fallen leaves over her body to try hide herself. From both the cold and walkers if they passed her by.  
Her breath came out in slow puffs of smoke as she tried to stay awake as long as she could. But eventually, she couldn't avoid sleep forever. Just as much as she couldn't avoid the ghostly faces of those who died because of her dependency appearing in her dreams.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Unsure, right? Warmth fell on Melissa's shoulder as the suns rays fell through the trees. She smiled at the feeling but then her smile dropped when she remembered last night. She looked around to see the log by her side and leaves scattered over her. The knife she had was an arms reach away from her. How she had survived the night- she had no idea. Her mouth was incredibly dry and her stomach rumbled grimly as she stood up and shook the leaves from her legs. She craved a sweet drink of juice or soda as she licked her dry lips. Looking around she wondered where she might find a house with bottles of drink or a running tap. Or even a pool of water in the woods somewhere. But she couldn't track water and she didn't know where any houses were. The town they were camping just outside of was picked clean and none of the taps worked anymore. But Melissa remembered the camp. It still had supplies, right? If she could find her way back and the walkers were gone, she could gather all the food and drink she would need. With a grin, she turned back towards the camp but stopped sharply. could she go back and risk seeing the mauled chewed up bodies of her friends? A frown creased her forehead as she tried to shake the image of their pale bloody faces from her mind. But she had to do it. Another roar from her empty stomach confirmed her decision. She was sure she was near camp by now. She'd been walking back the way she came last night and she couldn't be too far. Something on the ground ahead caught her eye and she watched it closely as she came nearer to it. With a jump of fear, she recognized the bundle of ripped cloth and mud as a walker. She stuck her knife out in front of her with both hands and stared fearfully it it's figure lying face down on the floor. If her camp still had walkers in it, she couldn't just run again. She had to kill them to get her supplies and this would be perfect practice. She crept closer to the walker and it still didn't move. With a frown she nudged it's ribs with her foot. Still it lay still. She tapped the side of its head with the toe of her shoe and it remained motionless. It was only when she leant down closer that she saw a hole through the back of its head. It had already been killed...? The hole looked too small and neat to be a knife. Gunshot maybe? But she'd have heard one right? And she was sure she didn't see this last night. The idea popped into her head that if someone had killed this walker not long ago- there were survivors nearby! Melissa grinned widely and power walked onwards, hoping to find the ones who killed the walker. It would mean protection for her. She wondered if she should call out or just keep searching- she wasn't sure if there were walkers nearby to hear her... But if survivors was as close as she thought, she could risk it right? Her dry lips hurt as she parted them to shout out, but all that came from her throat was a dry croak. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Hello?! Anyone out there?" Her voice echoed loudly throughout the silent woods. The birds that had been softly chirping away since she awoke fell silent and there was no reply. Maybe they hadn't heard her? "Hey! Is there anyone out there?" She quickly added "I'm not bit!" She remembered that near the start when Eric was taking in people in her group, he would ask if they were bitten or scratched. Maybe that was why they weren't replying? Or maybe they weren't out there anymore, she thought bitterly. She sighed and ran tip of her knife roughly against the bark of the tree closest to her in frustration. "Back to plan A..." She slid the knife into her belt, just like she had seen Liz used to do with hers and kept walking back to her camp. On her way, she noticed a few more double dead walkers and every now and then, called out to the people who might had killed them.,, with no reply each time. Her camp was in sight through the spindle like trees after a while of walking. She hesitated for a moment, taking a breath and preparing for what she would see of her friends. As she psyched herself up to keep going, she didn't hear a skinny fresh turned walker limping up behind her. Or the other figure creeping towards her from her side... A/N- dun dun dun! Short- I know, just wanted to do a build up thing lol. The next chapter will see Daryl ;) 


	3. Chapter 3

Guilt buried deep Melissa turned to the noise of a broken twig as a rotten face with beared yellow and gray teeth launched itself at her. She shrieked and held the knife out in front of her. The knife cleared flesh and muscle as it penetrated the walkers chest but it didn't cease it's actions. It reached out to her, the hold on the knife and the weight on the blade pushing Melissa over. She screamed and used all of her strength to push against the walkers shoulders, abandoning the knife planted uselessly in its chest. It snarled and it's clawed hands grabbed above her stomach, trying to rip past the cloth and into her guts. She screamed again, fearful tears building in the corners of her eyes. "HELP!" She screeched as loud as her lungs would allow. A harsh voice shouted back, "Shut up!" Suddenly the walker stopped moving and protruding from its forehead was an arrow tip. The full dead weight of the lifeless walker crushed Melissa as she struggled under it. "W-who's there?!" She cried breathlessly as she inched the walkers head away from her, her legs kicking frantically to get it off of her. Suddenly the weight was lifted and the dead body was thrown off to one side. Melissa quickly sat up and searched for her savior. But what she saw made her wrinkle her nose a little. A dirty man with shaggy dark brown hair, a sleeveless shirt, a crossbow and a scowl stood before her. But the relief quickly hit her and she jumped up, throwing her arms around his middle, knocking him backwards, and cried a hundred 'thank you-s' into his stinky shirt. The man flinched away, trying to peel the young woman from him. "Daryl, what is- Daryl?" Another man came past the trees and saw the woman wrapped around Daryl's body. Daryl shrugged her off and sneered at the new man. "Stupid bitch was screaming her head off. Calling walkers in from all over!" The Melissa landed on her ass as she fell backwards from his forceful push. He looked past her to the walker and saw the knife, laughing at the pathetic aim. "A real stupid bitch- gotta be the head!" He pushed his finger to his temple and scowled again at the girl, who pouted and seemed on the verge of tears. "Daryl- that's enough." The new man said. Melissa guessed that he used to be either a cop or a kissogram since he was dressed as a Sheriff, hat included. He helped her up and introduced himself as she wiped her eyes. "My names Rick Grimes. That there's Daryl and you are...?" "Melissa Ganch." Daryl snorted and scanned the area briefly before strutting off, crossbow ready in hand. Melissa cocked her head and Rick chuckled. "Don't worry about him. Look- we're looking for a little girl. One of our group lost her." Melissa perked up her head at the mention of 'group'. "You have others?" She asked hopefully, ignoring the missing girl question. "Uhh... Yeah. But have you seen a little-" "Nope, no girl. Can I go with you guys?" She Asked excitedly and Rick rubbed the back of his neck with a sigh. "Yeah sure...I guess." He felt terrible. The little girl obviously wasn't in the area and he blamed himself for leaving her. "So where is your-" "Booyah!" Cheered Daryl a few hundred feet away. Melissa and Rick cocked their heads and walked up to find him. When the entered the dead camp Melissa felt her blood run cold. A single walker lay half eaten on the ground on its back. It's legs were chewed alar hand it gnashed its jaws and reached out to the three in front of it. Melissa dropped to her knees and sobbed into her hands. Those eyes- even bloodshot and animalistic- were far too recognizable. Eric. It was Eric. A chunk was missing from his neck and his guts were hanging from a rip in his stomach. Daryl watched Melissa rack with sobs as the walker Eric reached out to grab her. But she didn't move away. It managed to roll onto its stomach and drag itself closer and still, she didn't move. Just as it was about to grasp her wrist, Daryl lazily aimed his crossbow and ended its canabalistic second life. The whizz of the bolt made Melissa jump and she angrily got to her feet. "You brute!" She snarled at Daryl, but he was busy packing her camps supplies into his bag. "Hey those are my things!" She went to grab back her sleeping bag, but Rick lightly pulled her back by the Crook of her arm, while Daryl continued to scrounge supplies. "Wait- was this your camp? Your..." He looked at the dead bodies and swallowed. "-your group?" Melissa's face dropped as she looked at the bodies too and sadly she nodded her head. "Christ... This was a slaughter." He sighed and pulled out his knife, walking over to a half eaten walker that snapped at them from a nearby tent. "We should end what they've become, before we move out." Melissa looked away from the walker and nodded with a sniffle. "Alright." Rick said when the five reanimated walker friends of Melissa's were dealt with and Daryl was finished packing cans of food and a small bag of cloths. Melissa grabbed her sleeping bag and a backpack of all her small essentials. "Right, ima gonna keep looking fer the girl- you take her and this stuff back to the group." Daryl said as he strutted off, crossbow in hand. Rick barely had time to utter a response, nor Melissa a thank you as he quickly vanished into the woods. "Sorry about him... Let's get you back to our group and checked over." Melissa smiled widely and nodded. She was safe again. A/N- crappy I know... I may rewrite this later- it's just to kick into the story lol 


End file.
